Happy National Poetry Month
I know we’ve had a lot of poetry-related posts on the Fuse Blog recently, but in honor of April being National Poetry Month, I’d like to make a recommendation for a great book about writing poetry: The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry.
My sister recommended this book to me when she was helping us work on our poetry review framework. Now hopefully all our poets will forgive me for this small confession: I’m not really that into poetry. I read and write mostly short stories, fiction novels, and screen plays. However, I’m amazed how much I’ve enjoyed The Ode Less Traveled (I’m not quite done), and how much it makes me want to try my hand at writing some poetry. Fry has a great way of explaining poetry concepts so they’re easy to easy to understand and fun to read. He tackles meter, rhyme, rhythm, stanza length, enjambment, and even content and subject matter–all with an enjoyable, charming wit. Even if you have no intention of writing poetry, the book is a fun read and will give you a better appreciation of the art.
If you need more reasons to read the book (you shouldn’t by now), Stephen Fry is also the actor who plays Deitrich in V for Vendetta (Deitrich is Evey’s friend from the TV network who hides her after she’s see with V) and the reader of several of the Harry Potter audio books.
Even if you choose not to read Fry’s book, be sure to do something to celebrate National Poetry Month: submit a poem to Review Fuse, or read and review some poems in our community’s catalog of public submissions. Take the time to do something to appreciate the beauty and art of poetry.
-Clark
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Tags: national poetry month, poetry, stephen fry